Graphene oxide-gadolinium (III) oxide nanoparticle composite: a novel MR contrast agent with high longitudinal and transverse relaxivity

Production of bio-compatible contrast agent materials to enhance the sensitivity of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique is a highly active area in MRI related research. This work illustrates the potential of a new material: graphene oxide-gadolinium (III) oxide nanoparticle (GO-Gd₂O₃) composite in yielding both transverse (16.3 mM⁻¹ s⁻¹) and longitudinal relaxivity (40 mM⁻¹ s⁻¹) values which are significantly higher than the proton relaxivity values achieved using the gadolinium based contrast agents currently used in MRI. Such high proton relaxivity values can facilitate low dosage of GO-Gd₂O₃ composite for obtaining both T₁ and T₂ weighted high signal-to-noise ratio images in MRI. (paper)